1. Field
The present invention relates to an electrical connector for circuit boards that is disposed on a mounting face of a circuit board and allows for a mating connector to be inserted and extracted therefrom such that the direction of connector insertion and extraction is a direction perpendicular to said mounting face, and, in particular, relates to an electrical connector for circuit boards having lock fittings lockable onto a mating connector in the direction of connector extraction.
2. Related Art
Known electrical connectors of this type include, for example, the receptacle connector described in Patent Document 1. In Patent Document 1, the receptacle connector has a housing that is disposed on a mounting face of a circuit board and extends such that its longitudinal direction is a direction parallel to said mounting face, multiple terminals are retained in place on the housing in an array form such that the terminal array direction is said longitudinal direction, and lock fittings are retained in place on said housing at both ends of the housing outside the terminal array area in the terminal array direction.
The housing has a bottom wall that faces the above-mentioned mounting face, a protruding wall that rises up in the central portion of said bottom wall and extends in the above-mentioned terminal array direction, and a perimeter wall that rises up around the perimeter of said bottom wall and surrounds the above-mentioned protruding wall. Said perimeter wall has a pair of lateral walls that extend in the terminal array direction, and a pair of end walls that extend in the connector width direction (transverse direction of the housing), which are perpendicular thereto. An annular space, which is upwardly open between the above-mentioned protruding wall and the above-mentioned perimeter wall, is formed as a receiving portion for receiving a mating portion of a mating connector from above.
The lock fittings are fabricated by bending sheet metal members, and, in addition to base portions, which have a substantially U-shaped configuration when viewed in the direction of connector insertion and extraction, each have two retained portions that extend from said base portions, lateral wall-adjacent lock arm portions, and end wall-adjacent lock arm portions.
The base portions have end wall-adjacent base portions, which extend in the connector width direction, and lateral wall-adjacent base portions, which are bent at both ends of said end wall-adjacent base portions and extend in the terminal array direction. The retained portions extend along the lateral walls of the housing from the lower edges of the lateral wall-adjacent base portions in a substantially L-shaped configuration when viewed in the terminal array direction, and press-fit arm portions extending in the direction of connector insertion and extraction in this substantially L-shaped configuration are press-fitted and retained in corresponding grooves in the lateral walls of the housing. The lateral wall-adjacent lock arm portions, which extend inwardly in the terminal array direction from the lateral wall-adjacent base portions in a cantilever configuration, are made elastically bendable in the sheet thickness direction (connector width direction). The end wall-adjacent lock arm portions, which are folded back in a U-shaped configuration at the lower edges of the end wall-adjacent base portions at locations in the vicinity of the bottom wall of the housing and extend in the direction of connector extraction, are made elastically bendable in the sheet thickness direction (terminal array direction). On the respective major surfaces of the lateral wall-adjacent lock arm portions and end wall-adjacent lock arm portions, there are formed lock portions extending towards the receiving portion of the housing, which engage and lock with the corresponding lock portions provided in the plug connector used as the mating connector when the connectors are mated.